Written by Tim Kaney, Website, Design, and Marketing Specialist.
This week begins a six part (week) series that covers all the countries of the world and the dominant languages within those countries. This data is meant to improve identifying and selecting target languages when considering a geographical area to market/translate into. For this first post, we have 40 countries ranging from Afghanistan to the Cayman Islands. All of these numbers and facts can be attributed to research done in the CIA’s World Factbook.
Afghanistan
Afghan Persian or Dari (official) 50%, Pashto (official) 35%, Turkic languages (mostly Uzbek and Turkmen) 11%, 30 minor languages (mostly Balochi and Pashai) 4%, abundant bilingualism
Akrotiri
English, Greek
Albania
Albanian (official – derived from Tosk dialect), Greek, Vlach, Romani, Slavic dialects
Algeria
Arabic (official), French, Berber dialects
American Samoa
Samoan 90.6% (closely related to Hawaiian and other Polynesian languages), English 2.9%, Tongan 2.4%, other Pacific islander 2.1%, other 2% Please note: most people are bilingual (2000 census)
Andorra
Catalan (official), French, Castilian, Portuguese
Angola
Portuguese (official), Bantu and other African languages
Anguilla
English (official)
Antigua and Barbuda
English (official), local dialects
Argentina
Spanish (official), Italian, English, German, French
Armenia
Armenian 97.7%, Yezidi 1%, Russian 0.9%, other 0.4% (2001 census)
Aruba
Papiamento (a Spanish-Portuguese-Dutch-English dialect) 66.3%, Spanish 12.6%, English (widely spoken) 7.7%, Dutch (official) 5.8%, other 2.2%, unspecified or unknown 5.3% (2000 census)
Australia
English 78.5%, Chinese 2.5%, Italian 1.6%, Greek 1.3%, Arabic 1.2%, Vietnamese 1%, other 8.2%, unspecified 5.7% (2006 Census)
Austria
German (official nationwide) 88.6%, Turkish 2.3%, Serbian 2.2%, Croatian (official in Burgenland) 1.6%, other (includes Slovene, official in Carinthia, and Hungarian, official in Burgenland) 5.3% (2001 census)
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijani (Azeri) 90.3%, Lezgi 2.2%, Russian 1.8%, Armenian 1.5%, other 3.3%, unspecified 1% (1999 census)
Bahamas, The
English (official), Creole (among Haitian immigrants)
Bahrain
Arabic, English, Farsi, Urdu
Bangladesh
Bangla (official, also known as Bengali), English
Barbados
English
Belarus
Belarusian (official) 36.7%, Russian (official) 62.8%, other 0.5% (includes small Polish- and Ukrainian-speaking minorities) (1999 census)
Belgium
Dutch (official) 60%, French (official) 40%, German (official) less than 1%, legally bilingual (Dutch and French)
Belize
Spanish 46%, Creole 32.9%, Mayan dialects 8.9%, English 3.9% (official), Garifuna 3.4% (Carib), German 3.3%, other 1.4%, unknown 0.2% (2000 census)
Benin
French (official), Fon and Yoruba (most common vernaculars in south), tribal languages (at least six major ones in north)
Bermuda
English (official), Portuguese
Bhutan
Dzongkha (official), Bhotes speak various Tibetan dialects, Nepalese speak various Nepalese dialects
Bolivia
Spanish 60.7% (official), Quechua 21.2% (official), Aymara 14.6% (official), foreign languages 2.4%, other 1.2% (2001 census)
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian
Botswana
Setswana 78.2%, Kalanga 7.9%, Sekgalagadi 2.8%, English 2.1% (official), other 8.6%, unspecified 0.4% (2001 census)
Brazil
Portuguese (official and most widely spoken language); note – less common languages include Spanish (border areas and schools), German, Italian, Japanese, English, and a large number of minor Amerindian languages
British Virgin Islands
English (official)
Brunei
Malay (official), English, Chinese
Bulgaria
Bulgarian 84.5%, Turkish 9.6%, Roma 4.1%, other and unspecified 1.8% (2001 census)
Burkina Faso
French (official), native African languages belonging to Sudanic family spoken by 90% of the population
Burma
Burmese, minority ethnic groups have their own languages
Burundi
Kirundi (official), French (official), Swahili (along Lake Tanganyika and in the Bujumbura area)
Cambodia
Khmer (official) 95%, French, English
Cameroon
24 major African language groups, English (official), French (official)
Canada
English (official) 58.8%, French (official) 21.6%, other 19.6% (2006 Census)
Cape Verde
Portuguese, Crioulo (a blend of Portuguese and West African words)
Cayman Islands
English 95%, Spanish 3.2%, other 1.8% (1999 census)
Next Week – Central African Republic to Germany!
Tags: Languages of the World, trans, transl8, Translate, World Factbook, Xlate
